


Grow On Me Like Ivy

by Notstinglesstoo



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Daughter is a mutant, F/M, Female Reader, Gen, More characters will appear and I'll update when they do, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Reader is human, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23814232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notstinglesstoo/pseuds/Notstinglesstoo
Summary: What makes a home? Where will you and your daughter go when yours is destroyed? Perhaps a home can only be made by growing one.** I'm back, updates should be a bit more regular now! Like, every other week!
Relationships: Charles Xavier/Reader, Erik Lehnsherr/Reader, Logan (X-Men)/Reader
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53





	1. Finding Home

A busted truck pulled up to the delicately detailed mansion gate. The window rolled down and a hand reached out to press the intercom. A buzz sounded and the gates came to life with a screech of metal. The truck pulled forward and the driver reached over to squeeze the hand of the passenger. 

***

Doors slammed and glass shattered as you ran for the truck, you held onto Krissy for dear life, pushing her in front of you to make sure she got out. You turned to face the house, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on when the smell of smoke hit your nose. They had finally come for you and your daughter. You couldn’t quite believe the destruction that surrounded you. You caught sight of glass sparkling on the ground, everything seemed to slow as the flames took hold. 

“Mom!” Krissy shouted and raced back for you, pulling you out of your stupor. She grabbed your hand and pulled you toward the truck. Vines and roots started coming out of the ground, trying to smother the fire and destroy whatever people were left in the house.

***

The doors to the mansion opened on their own, the halls were quiet with no signs of life in sight. It was elegance in every sense of the word. It felt wrong to even take one step on the hardwood floors with their muddied shoes.

_“Please, come in. You seem to be in need of our help.” _A voice rang out in their heads, startling them.__

The older one took a step in, gripping the teenager’s hand to comfort her.

***

“We need to go!” You shouted over your heart pumping in your ears. Krissy nodded, tears staining her freckled face. She yanked open the door of the truck as soon as she got there and scampered in. You followed seconds after, shoving the keys in the ignition and peeling out at fast as you could on the dirt road. 

Krissy turned to look out the back window. Wind whipped at the truck as you drove away, putting into gear and stepping on the gas. A sob escaped her as her vines wrapped around the house and squeezed it. It didn’t take long before it crumbled to the ground, nothing but a cloud of dust. She sobbed harder as you drove away, she let her vines sink back into the earth, taking her heart with them. 

You couldn’t say anything to comfort her in that moment, you had to focus on making sure there would eventually be a time you could comfort her by staying alive. You drove, going close to 100 miles an hour until the dirt became asphalt and you came to a stop sign at an all cross. No one followed you, thank god. Finally, you let yourself take a breath. Krissy had stopped sobbing, but was now so silent it scared you more.

You allowed yourself to take your eyes off the road and turn to her. You placed a hand on her knee and gave it a gentle squeeze to make her look at you. She did so with reddened eyes, lip still trembling from held back tears. You smiled sadly at her and took her face in your hands. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. I promise. We will find a place that he can’t get to us,” You spoke softly. She looked like she wanted to believe you, but couldn’t, nonetheless she nodded and bit her lip, launching forward to hug you as she sobbed into your shoulders.

“Shhh, shhh, It’s alright, okay. I’ll make it alright,” You whispered in her ear. She pulled back and nodded, biting her lip as she sat back in her seat. You nodded back to her and started to drive again, putting on some music and playing it softly to relax the atmosphere. 

You drove for another two hours, you had no destination in mind, you just had to get as far away as possible. Only when the sun started to go down did you feel anxiousness begin to bubble in your stomach.

“Mom,” Krissy began, “where are we gonna go?” she asked. You took a deep breath and let it out. 

“I don’t know. I’m open to suggestions,” You huffed a laugh. She stayed quiet in the seat beside you. You kept driving until you could barely keep your eyes open. You pulled off onto the next exit ramp and found an all-night grocery store parking lot to sleep in. “We’ll figure something out in the morning.” 

Morning came and you were still as lost as the night before. You grabbed breakfast from a McDonald's and paid in cash. While chewing on her hash browns Krissy seemed lost in thought.

“Hey,” You nudged her shoulder, “What’cha thinkin ‘bout?”

She took a moment to decide whether or not to tell you. 

“I think I might know where we can go,” She murmured.

“Where?”

She sighed before she spoke, choosing her words carefully. “I remember one of my friends mentioning a place for people like me. I think. . . I think it was called Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters,” Her voice goes up at the end of her sentence, unsure if her information is correct. 

“Okay,” You nodded, thinking it over, “Then that’s where we’ll go.” 

***  
It wasn’t exactly a school. At least, it didn’t seem to be anymore. Outside there was a swing set and a sandbox that looked like they hadn’t been used in ages. The landscaping had been forgotten, left to the wild as grass and wildflowers grew higher than your knees.

Inside was no better. Dust gathered on the paintings that lined the hallway, the door squeaked with rusted hinges, and worst of all, it ached of emptiness.  
All was quiet, the only sign of your entrance was the two shadows cast inside the opening hallway from the sunlight at your backs and the dust particles you stirred up.

The stairs at the end of the hallway creaked. You heard it first, Krissy’s head snapping to it a second later. The footsteps continued, echoing down the hall until someone stepped into view. A blue… man? You couldn’t tell. He was bipedal and covered in fur, he wore a plaid shirt under a cardigan with nice khakis and no shoes. 

You put a hand in front of Krissy, unsure of his intents, but Krissy simply smiled at him. He noticed your hesitance but smiled all the same.

“Hello, I’m Hank McCoy, we’ve been expecting you.” You didn’t like that. “Right this way please.” He gestured with his arm the way he had come. Krissy looked at you and took your hand, smiling at you and dragging you with her to the stairs.

“Come on mom, it’s okay,” she whispered, trying to comfort you. You nodded to her and took her hand, letting her know you were okay.

The blue man – Hank led you up the stairs and down a long hall with many doors attached to the walls. As you walked down several of the doors opened and people began peering out at you and Krissy. The first was a very tall and bury man who looked like he was a lumberjack, a puff of cigar smoke fell out of his mouth as he sniffed the air after as walked past, he merely grunted and went back to his room. Two heads poked out of the room across from him, a young woman with red hair and a young man with red sunglasses, they looked to be about Krissy’s age and the girl smiled as she walked past. A few doors down a blond-haired man leaned out of his door and smiled at Hank, giving the both of you nods as you past. Two more heads peeked out of their doors on either side of the hall, a man who appeared to be a few years older than Krissy with striking silver hair winked at the both and you and took off down the hall at the speed of light. The girl on the other side had brown hair with white streaks at the front of her hair, she rolled her eyes at the empty door across from her and mumbled to you both to “ignore him,”.

Finally, you reached the end of the hall and Hank stopped, smiled at you both and opened the door for you. You gripped Krissy’s hand harder and stepped inside before her, taking in a large window on the wall opposite you and then a man close to your age behind a desk in a wheelchair. He smiled at you kindly and his smile grew wider as Krissy entered after you. 

“Please,” he gestured to the two chairs in front of the desk, you instantly recognized the voice in your head from the entrance and your suspicion grew, “Take a seat, I suspect your journey has been long and hard.” 

You nodded and took a seat, you let go of Krissy’s hand only to pull the seat forward and then grabbed it again, interlacing your fingers together. You knew your suspicion and protectiveness did not go unnoticed by the man, but he didn’t say anything about it. 

“My name is Charles Xavier, and you are?” He gestured to you for your name.

“(Y/N) (L/N),” you spoke, “and this is my daughter, Krissy.” He smiled and reached over to shake both of your hands.

“I see, and what brings you to my school?” The notion of this place being an actual school confused you, there were maybe 10 people in this mansion tops and none of them seemed equipped to run a school nor were there enough people. 

Krissy took over the conversation as you considered the place and the man in front of you, studying him for any signs that he was lying or wished you harm. 

“We need help, shelter, asylum if you will,” She started to explain but found herself struggling to find the words. Charles nodded and leaned forward on the desk and gave her a sad smile.

“Most people who come here do,” He gestured for her to continue.

“There are some people after us, well, me,” She muttered, not meeting his eyes, “They came for us at our last safe house, we made it out just in time, but we don’t have any other place to go.” She looked up; her gaze uncertain but hopeful that he would help. “I had heard of your school from an old friend of mine, she was on her way here, but she never made it.” She looked down at her hands sadly. You closed your eyes in grief and squeezed her hand. The world was not kind to mutants, especially those with horns like Michelle had. She had been running and before long, you had seen a news article reporting that she had been found dead, drowned in a river not far out of town.

“I am sorry for your loss,” Charles said, his eyes were a little watery, it eased your mind a bit. It was much harder to fake genuine emotion than people thought. “You are more than welcome in my home,” Both of you breathed a sigh of relief, no more running. “Now, if I may be so bold as to ask, what are your mutations?” 

Your breath hitched. He thought both of you were mutants, fuck. What if he didn’t let you stay because you were human? You understood why, but you were certainly not leaving your daughter and that would leave you both without a place to stay.  
Krissy’s eyes lit up and the worry fell away for a moment as your love for her took over. You’d find a way to stay here, for her, no matter what. 

Krissy’s eyes fell onto a plant next to the window. Charles followed her gaze. “May I?” She asked.

“Certainly,” Charles nodded, an easy smile on his face. With careful precision, she moved her fingers just slightly and the plant began to grow taller and healthy as small white flowers began to bud and then bloom on it. Charles smile grew into a grin as he laughed in astonishment “How marvelous!” He exclaimed. He turned to you with a grin. “And what about you?”

You gave him a tight smile. “Nothing, sir. I’m afraid I’m human.” His smile faltered, you couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t like that or because he didn’t know what to make of you.

“I see, I will warn you that the mutants who live here will not trust you easily, the human world is harsh to them as I’m sure you know. Are you willing to work to gain their trust?” It was his turn to study you. 

“Yes, I understand why they wouldn’t not trust me at first, but I assure you I only wish for Krissy’s safety.” You spoke honestly, you had to get him to trust you.

“Miss (L/N), I trust that you understand that this is a delicate situation you and your daughter are in, I wouldn’t normally ask this of you, but ensure that you truly do not wish to hurt us, would you allow me to look into your mind?” 

You didn’t like the idea. The idea felt intensely vulnerable and violating, but you had to stay here. There was nowhere else to go. You took a deep breath and nodded.

“For my daughter, anything.” Krissy beamed and gripped your hand bringing it closer to her. Charles smiled and nodded; relief clear on his face.

“I’ve been told it feels a little weird, but it shouldn’t hurt. I am only looking for any intent to harm our school and I promise to do my best to not see anything else,” He spoke earnestly, you almost let yourself believe him fully, “Are you ready?”

You gave him a small nod. He leaned forward and placed two of his fingers to his temple. Your breath hitched as you felt something sort of prod at your brain and flashes of memories crossed your eyes. Gun shots rand as you ducked for cover, glass from your windows shattering above you. Krissy screaming and you running into the kitchen to run out that back door. You would protect her or die trying. Someone kicking in your front door. The smell of smoke and Krissy’s vines taking out masked men. Your last refuge crumbling to the ground as you pulled out onto the dirt road. Then it stopped. And you opened your eyes, wondering when you had closed them. 

Charles looked at you with a tight smile. “Well, I found no intents to harm us, only an incredibly strong will to protect your daughter. So, I see no reason why you should not also be allowed to stay here.” Both you and Krissy let out a sigh of relief, maybe now you could let your guard down. “Welcome home,” He smiles to the both of you as a knock sounds on the door. “Come in, Hank.”

“You wanted to see me, Charles?” Hank smiles and does a small wave to the both of you.

“Yes, please show our new housemates to their rooms.”

“Of course,” he smiles at you both and gestures for you to follow him, “right this way.”

You never let go of Krissy’s hand, both of you are squeezing the other’s hand in pure joy and relief, you were safe at least for a while, and Krissy could have friends like her, and you could allow yourself to breath. This was the next step toward finally living, you couldn’t wait to take it.


	2. Settling In

Standing in the center of your room was a breath of fresh air and a punch to the gut. You could finally let yourself relax, something you didn’t find easy to do, and you could trust that if nothing else, you had a bed you could sleep in for the night. But you had to face the reality of what you had lost, and what you could lose again within a moments notices if he found you. 

There was a knock on your door as you set your duffel bag on your bed, these were the last things you had in the entire world and they didn’t even mean that much to you. Your guard went up at the knock, worrying that Charles had changed his mind about a human living in his mansion. You answered the door with hesitance. The blond man you had seen before stood on the other side, he smiled at you kindly and put his hand out for you to shake. 

“Hi, I’m Alex, wanted to introduce myself since we’re neighbors,” he gestured to the door a few down from you, “and let you know that dinner’s at 8, hope you’re hungry for Chinese,” he chuckled. You allowed yourself to smile back at him, hoping it didn’t seem fake, and took his hand. 

“Nice to meet you neighbor, I’m (Y/N), my daughter Krissy is in the room next to mine.” You jerked your thumb to the right and looked out to see her door open and the girl with white streaks in her hair sitting on her bed while Krissy put her few clothes in her dresser. Your smile grew, glad that at least one of the kids her age was making an effort to get to know her. Alex smiled and let go of your hand. 

“Do you need any help unpacking?” he asked. You shook your head, smiling sadly.

“No, we don’t have much I’m afraid, just the essentials from our emergency bags.”

“Ah,” he frowned slightly, but nodded his head in what seemed like understanding, “I get it, my little brother Scott and I had to clear out fast when his mutation developed, well, I’ll let you settle in,” he smiled at you and gave you a salute before walking down the hall to his room. You smiled and let him go. 

You closed the door and let out a breath, one person seemed to like you which meant you were already doing pretty good at getting people to not hate you. But he also probably thought you were a mutant like him, so maybe you weren’t making any progress at all. Fuck. 

Adjoined to your room was a small bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower, and right now it looked like heaven. You knew you smelled gross, your clothes were two days old and your hair smelled like smoke, and there was only so much deodorant could do. You peeled off your dirty clothes and headed to the shower, knowing you had at least an hour before dinner. Chinese? They must not have anyone competent enough to cook. That was something you could do, you were a great cook, especially if Krissy could garden! That would be a great way to gain their trust. 

You showered for a good 30 minutes, taking your time to get really clean and let the water wash away the past two days from your body. When you stepped out you felt better, more optimistic, and even more determined to stay here. Hot water that lasted for more than 15 minutes? Yes please. You put on a pair of clean clothes and decided that putting the rest of your stuff away could wait until the morning and went to check on Krissy. You knocked on the door frame as the door was still open.

“Hey Kiddo, how’s unpacking going?” the girl with white streaks was still there and she looked up at you skeptically.

“Hey Mom,” Krissy beamed up at you, “I’m all done unpacking, there wasn’t a lot, you know,” She gestured to the girl sitting on her bed, “Mom, this is Anna Marie, or Rogue, she helped out a lot.”

You smiled kindly at her, holding your hand out to shake hers. She startled at it and you almost pulled it back and apologized but she hesitantly reached forward and took your hand ever so gently as if you were a thin sheet of ice that might shatter. You looked down at her hand and noticed she was wearing a black leather glove and briefly wondered if her mutation had more to do with skin to skin contact than the white in her hair.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you spoke gently. She shrunk back and gave you a small nod. 

“You too,” she muttered. 

“Thank you for helping Krissy when I couldn’t.” A moment passed where Rogue turned to Krissy and smiled fondly. Krissy smiled back. She turned back to you and a small smile and less skepticism in her eyes.

“It’s no big deal,” Rogue looks up at the clock set on the nightstand “It’s almost time for dinner, we should probably head down,” She mumbles. You smile and gesture for her to go first.

“Lead the way!”

The mansion is larger than you thought it was, this place could probably house over 200 people and you were amazed at the spacious rooms and detailing in the woodwork throughout the house. It took you about 5 minutes to get from your rooms to the dining hall and it certainly was a dining hall. A table large enough for 50 was in the middle of the room, though there were only 10 place settings. At the very end of the long room it rounded out to a large window with blue curtains handing on each side. 

Alex was already there, as was Hank they sat next to each other and appeared to be in good spirits, smiling at you when they noticed your presence. Suddenly you felt like you were back in your first day of high school, no close friends yet and you had no idea where to sit. Charles sat at the head of the table and saved you from your overthinking. He beckoned you toward him with his hand and motioned to three empty seats across from him. You smiled gratefully and took the one next to him across from Hank.

The silver haired man arrived in a blur and sat across from Rogue next to Alex. The big burly man entered without speaking a word and sat next to Rogue, he gave her what you thought was an attempt at a smile and she smiled back. Shortly after him was the red-haired girl who sat next to the silver haired man and lastly came the boy in the red sunglasses with his arms laden with Chinese food from some place you didn’t recognize. He smiled and sat the food in the middle for people to grab as they wanted before taking his seat next to the red-haired girl. They all looked at Charles to begin the dinner and by virtue of looking at Charles they looked at you and Krissy. Nerves began to bubble in your throat, and you felt Krissy slide her hand over to your in search of comfort. Charles cleared his throat and began to speak:

“As I’m sure you all know by now, we have two new residents in the mansion,” he gestured to the both of you, “Krissy and her mother (Y/N) will be staying with us permanently as they fear for their safety in the outside world,” a few heads began nodding in sympathetic understanding, “Krissy is a mutant, however (Y/N) is not,” The burly man’s head snapped toward you and you pretended not to notice it, “but I can assure you that after looking into her mind she means us no harm and only wishes for Krissy’s safety and to be of help to us.” He looked pointedly in the burly man’s direction, “Now since you know them, I believe it’s time they knew you.” He smiled and finished his introduction. He reached forward and grabbed some food out of the center and people began to grab for it, Krissy was uncertain what to do but you reached for some food, trying to prove that you were relaxed and grabbed some for her. Hank began to speak as he unpacked his food.

“You already know me but for formality’s sake, I’m Hank, I’m the chemistry and biology teacher here, I also help out with keeping the place clean,” he gestured with his chopsticks as he spoke, finishing with a smile. Alex picked up his que and swallowed his food, smirking at you.

“You know me too, but I’m Alex, I’m the economics teacher and resident mechanic,” he grinned as he popped a long noodle into his mouth. The silver haired man was next.

“Peter,” he spoke with his mouth fill before the red head smacked his arm, “student/who knows what,” he laughed. The red head rolled her eyes and turned to you and Krissy with a smile.

“I’m Jean, student and telepath like Charles, it’s nice to meet you.” She turned her attention to the boy next to her.

“I’m Scott, Alex is my brother and I’m a student here and I landscape aka I cut the grass,” He joked. You turned your attention to the burly man who has been focusing solely on his food. He paused when the talking stopped, looked up and turned to look directly in the eyes.

“Logan,” was his gruff reply. You weren’t sure what to make of him, but you could already tell he would be the hardest one to win over. Rogue glared at him and he seemed to regret his shortness a little but not enough. Rogue ignored him and turned to you and Krissy.

“I’m Rogue, I’m a student and I help out with cleaning too,” she spoke softly. Krissy cleared her throat before continuing with a small wave.

“I’m Krissy, I would love to be a student here and if you have a garden or have any interest in starting one, I would love to help.” She smiled shyly and turned to you.

“I’m (Y/N), I would love to help out in any way I can, I used to home school Krissy when we were on the run for longer than usual, and I’m an excellent cook, especially if Krissy gardens.” You smile at the whole table, making sure to include Logan who ignored you. Charles chuckled and smiled at you.

“Well, I know it would be quite nice to have a home cooked meal for once instead of take out, and I think a garden sounds like a wonderful idea. There’s a greenhouse out back that hasn’t been put to use in far to long.” Krissy beamed up at him and your heart swelled. You looked back at Charles and gave him a grateful smile.

“How soon would I be able to start?” She asked with excitement in her voice.

“As soon as tomorrow,” he grinned, “That is,” he tilted his head in your direction, “if it’s alright with your mother.” You could never deny Krissy anything that brought her joy after the hard life she had already had at 16.

“It’s sounds wonderful to me, the sooner you get to gardening the soon I can get to cooking!”

Dinner continued on with light conversation, you learned that Jean and Scott were dating, that Peter was 19 but still called himself a student because he didn’t really pay much attention in high school and figured if he was stuck here he might as well so something. Charles explained to you that the school used to full of students but after a lot of anti-mutant legislation was passed most mutants went into hiding or were killed. Classes were very small now, and mostly informal, teaching to learn instead of to pass tests which you liked. Charles hoped that one day the school could be returned to its former glory, but he was afraid it would take a long time. However, he was still very proud of the family they had managed to build in these trying times. You were thankful they had for the most part welcomed you into it. 

As the night flew by you understood how they saw each other as family, it was clear in the way they talked and joked to one another like they had know each other all their lives. You were regaled with tales of learning of their mutations, and the fuck ups that ensued, like when Alex managed to slice one of his cars in half. Instead of being afraid like they expected you to be, you laughed, then told the story of how Krissy had once wrapped roots around your entire house in her sleep. The night ended to soon and you followed everyone up to their rooms. As your head hit the pillow you began to hope that one day you would be a part of their little family. After so long with so little, family sounded like a dream come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you like my work by leaving a kudos or a comment! They help so much with the motivation to post it's unreal


	3. Routine is a New Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha. . . May 15th? I don't know her. 
> 
> I wish I could say this is gonna update regularly but we both know I'd be lying. But I do want to work on it and I have a plan for it, so let's cross our fingers a hope lol.

You woke up on your own for the first time in a long time, the sun shining on your face from the curtains you had forgotten to close the night before. You allowed yourself the luxury of laying in bed for 5 more minutes enjoying the warm, soft bed, and the sound of birds chirping outside your window. It felt nice, homely, almost safe. Today was the first day of the rest of your life.

Realizing that you tossed the covers aside and went to wake Krissy, you had to get going if you wanted to grab everything you needed from the hardware and lumber supply store. She was already way ahead of you when you got to her door, practically vibrating from excitement. The mansion began stirring with a newfound rush as everyone began to wake up and start the day. Doing your best to think on your feet you grabbed a notebook from you bag and started asking people their favorite meals, and anything they were allergic to so you could do a grocery run. Warm smiles were found on every face when they realized what you were doing. 

You were about to leave and go into town when Charles stopped you and suggested that you took Alex and Logan along to help load the car. You thought of saying you could handle this yourselves but stopped yourself. That was an old habit that you would have to break. You didn’t have to do it alone now. Closing people out was something that wouldn’t go down easy.  
You said yes and the four of you piled into a truck much bigger than your own and took off to town. You grabbed wood for plant boxes, seeds, mulch, dirt, saplings, everything you would need for the perfect garden. Next was the grocery store, you picked up everything under the sun, 50lb bags of flour and sugar, 5 gallons of milk, an obscene amount of ground beef and eggs. Every food anyone could ever want or the ingredients to make it. Thankfully the mansion already had most of the cleaning supplies you needed.  
4 hours later you returned and without even taking a break you and Krissy began building plant boxes while Logan supervised, and Hank and Rogue cleaned up the greenhouse. Soon enough you were carrying them into the building and filling them with dirt and seeds. 

Once they were all planted, you motioned for everyone to step back as Krissy knelt in front of them. Logan eyed you suspiciously, but you didn’t notice, too focused on watching Krissy in her element. She closed her eyes and held her hands out to either side of her body. A warm breeze began to stir blowing your hair back as it seemed as if the air was coming alive with new life. A barely there glow began to come from the plant boxes. Hank and Rogue gasped as small sprouts began to appear in the dirt and grow and grow until they blossomed with flowers that would soon become food.

Logan’s eyes stayed on you. Your eyes never left Krissy. 

He was waiting for any tell tale sign that you couldn’t be trusted. That you aimed to stab his family in the back. But your face was filled with only love and affection for your daughter. In a moment he could only call soft, he realized who you were. 

He was a lot less intentionally cold to you after that. You got the sense that that’s just who he was, and you respected it.  
After a brief break it was time to start prepping for dinner. Krissy wanted to help but after 10 minutes of reading the starting paragraph over and over again from yawning to much you sent her on her way for a pre-dinner nap. A much deserved one at that. 

You connected your phone to the blue tooth speaker and began searching for pots and utensils. You decided to keep it simple for tonight, and after a long day with some heavy lifting, pasta seemed to be the best thing in the world. Plus, you could use the tomatoes Krissy grew.

Just as the pasta water began to boil a head of blonde hair poked its way into the kitchen, followed by some red sunglasses. 

“Want some help?” Alex took a few steps toward you, a large smile on his face. “I promise I’m not inept in the kitchen, but I could use some refreshers.”

“He’s lying. He could set cereal on fire.” Scott spoke up from behind him.

You had to stifle a laugh as you dumped 2 whole boxes of spaghetti into the pot. Turning around to look at them both directly, while also setting an egg timer for the pasta, you smiled at the both of them.

“Well, I don’t see how you could ruin smashing tomatoes for sauce, but I guess we’ll find out.” He grinned and patted Scott on the back, quickly washing his hands and getting to work. The disgusted face he made when he squished the first one was well worth it if he did manage to set them on fire. 

With the Summer brother’s help you managed to have dinner done ahead of schedule, which gave you enough time to set the table before everyone got there. 

Charles wheeled into the room just as you began bringing out two large bowls of sauce, one marinara, one alfredo. He took a deep breath and an easy smile slid onto his face from the wonderful smell. 

“Well Ms. (L/N), it seems we made the right decision to have you as our lovely cook. I can’t recall the last time we had a truly home cooked meal.” You surprised yourself as you felt your cheeks begin to heat. It was then you realized it had been a long time since someone had complimented you or anything you did. Krissy’s father was probably the last person who . . . no time for that thought!

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, Charles.” You grinned, setting the sauce down on the table. You brought two fingers to your lips and blew, a sharp loud whistle came out and out through the swinging kitchen doors came Scott and Alex, arms laden with spaghetti, garlic bread, a large pitcher of lemonade, and huge grins on their faces.

Charles’ smiled widen and he clapped his hands together. “My, this is fantastic!”

You allowed yourself to laugh at his surprised face. Wow, it was hard to remember the last time you had done that. After setting the table with everything, Alex rushed off to the dinning room door and stuck his out. 

“Soups on!” He called out to the rest of the mansion, and soon enough everyone was seated around the table grabbing for food. You made eye contact with Krissy as she reached for a piece of garlic bread and she smirked at you. You got the message of “told you so”, laughing you gently ruffled her hair, conceding that she was right. 

Life moved on at the mansion, a day turned into a week, a week turned into a month, and a month turned into three. You felt safer than you ever had, and you were safer than you ever had been. You managed to carve yourself a nice little family out of this shithole of a world. It was good. They were good. You were. . . good. There was finally something to live for, not just survive. 

Life was warm again. 

Then there was a knock at the door.


	4. Knock Knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry for the late update, college is super stressful right now. But! It's here!

The knock sounded. You were putting on the finishing touches for lunch and you jumped as the noise echoed around the quiet mansion. 

Three precise raps. 

You and Hank were the only ones actually inside the mansion, everyone else was out enjoying the summer weather. You froze just as you were about to set down a bowl full of salad and made eye contact with Hank as he looked up from a biology book, he had been reading at the table keeping you silent company. In three months of living there, no one had ever knocked. 

You searched Hanks for some semblance of what to do and he stared back at you just as scared, judging by the look on his face it was the first time someone had knocked in years. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes seemed like hours as the two of you waited for any form of action from the person on the other side.

Then it came again. Three precise raps. 

Shaking yourself from your stupor you raced to the kitchen and grabbed a small knife from the knife block and went back out to Hank. Seeing the knife in yours hands he stood up and backed away, fear plain on his face.

“Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I need you to stay calm and collected. I’m going to go out first and hide behind the door and you’re going to open it and see what they want. Everyone is outside and we can’t call them so it’s up to us to protect our home. Now let’s go before they just enter guns blazing.” Hank looked like he wanted to object, but he saw the determination in your eyes and understood that if necessary, you would die for him, for all of them, to give them a chance to get away. With a deep breath he nodded his head and followed you out.

Three more raps, this time quicker, they were getting impatient. Not what you wanted.

You silently slid yourself behind the door and got ready. You nodded to Hank to open it. He stepped forward and gripped the handle, swallowing hard as he prepared a smile on his face. He slowly turned the handle and opened the door.

“Hello, what can I –"His greeting was cut off as he gaped at the people in front of him, a male figure wearing all black and hat pushed his way into the door followed by a blonde woman. The man pushed Hank back with a hand to his chest like he was nothing and he stumbled back. The woman gave no reaction.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little –” He was silenced as Hank doubled over and began to turn blue, a growl growing low in his throat. That was all the signal you need to launch yourself forward. You sprung into a roll, lashing out with the sharpened kitchen knife and caught the man in the leg. Blood spatter onto the carpet and he let out a shocked yell of pain and he twisted to face you. He raised his hand toward you and for a second you felt the knife start to pull from your grip, but Hank leapt onto his back, taking him to the ground and the tug on the knife was gone. The woman seemed to be disinterested in the fight, rolling her eyes and dropping her coat on the floor. 

“Really? A little knife?” You stood tall and watched as the blonde woman in front of you turned to a blue skinned redhead with yellow eyes. With a shock you realized you were fighting mutants. Great. She made a lunge for you and you barely managed to dodge out of the way, crying out in pain as you ran into the corner of an end table. 

In your distracted state she managed to pick herself up and make another run for you, this time grabbing your wrist, twisting it behind your back and holding her arm around your throat. Fighting through the pain you managed to pull the knife up and jab it into her upper thigh, using her doubling over to collide the back of your head into the front of hers. You escaped from her grip and turned around to face her.

“Little knife. Strong fighter,” you grunted and ran for her, grabbing her around her midsection while she was still recovering and rammed her into a wall, knocking over a vase from a table next to it. Distantly, you heard Hank and the man fighting, you couldn’t tell who was winning. 

“A little help here, Erik!” The woman called as she struggled against your hold. You heard Hank yell in pain and you turned your head to see that the man had flung him down onto the stairs and was standing over him. The woman took the opportunity to shove you off of her and run to where Hank had begun to stand up, clocking him in the jaw. 

The man turned to you and grinned, you stood up and gripped the knife tight in your hand. You aimed to throw it into his chest but before you could you felt your feet leave the ground. The metal of your belt buckle was pulling you up in to the air, a gasp left you and the man let out a small chuckle. You threw the knife in a blind hope as you were crushed against the wall, the wind knocked out of you. The knife spun toward his face and stopped mere centimeters from his nose. His grin widen, taking the tip of his pointer finger and placing it on the tip of the blade and turned it around so it was facing you. All you could do was try and breath as the knife sped toward you, it lodged right next to your ear. The shock of pain to your system made your lungs kick into gear as you drew a sharp gasp. You numbly realized there was blood dripping down your cheek.

“ENOUGH.” 

Charles’ voice rang out through the mansion. You looked to the left to see your family standing ready to defend you. Logan must have heard the fight and alerted the others.  
Everything seemed to freeze for a moment as everyone took each other in. The woman was standing over Hank, hands wrapped around his throat, and the man, Erik, apparently had you pinned, and many things were knocked over and destroyed. The pair seemed to recognize that they were outnumbered and back away. Erik let go of whatever hold he had on you and you dropped to the ground coughing.

“Mom!” Krissy raced over to you, kneeling down to help you up and drag you over to your family. Erik’s eyes followed you up until Krissy reached Alex who helped her take you under his arms, a firm look on his face as he stared at Erik. There was a history here that you weren’t aware of, that much was clear.

Erik slowly put his hands in the air, a gesture that made no one relax. “I didn’t come here to fight, Charles,” He slowly lowered his head, unable to meet anyone’s eyes “I – we, came for help.”

There was a long silence before anyone spoke, no one dared to move, it felt like the air itself was holding its breath. 

“Get your things, you know where your rooms are.” Charles voice was firm and left no room for argument, but Logan was never one to listen.

“You can’t be serious! After what they’ve done!” He yelled, voice rough with barely held rage. 

“Charles, you know I’ll follow you into war, but this? This is certain death.” Alex spoke up as you leaned against him. 

“We’ll discuss it at dinner.” Charles teared his gaze away from Erik and began to wheel his way out of the room. Hank began to turn back into his non-blue form and walked over to you, Krissy and Alex. 

“Come on, let’s go down to the med bay and get patched up.” He spoke quietly and shared a look with Alex that your adrenaline filled brain couldn’t quite understand. Krissy eyed Erik and the woman as they walked to the door and grabbed their forgotten bags.

“What about them?” She whispered, eyes never leaving them.

“If they’re smart, they’ll know they’re not welcome,” Alex muttered, a scowl on his face. 

The med bay was like a small hospital that you didn’t even know existed in the mansion. Hank had explained that there was a whole subterranean floor beneath them that they didn’t use much anymore, hence the dust on everything. 

“Gee, and I thought the coolest thing was the game room,” you mumbled not intending anyone to hear it. Alex’s chuckled surprised you, causing you to snap your eyes up to his. A light smile adorned his face which made you smile which then made you wince as the cut in your cheek stung like a bitch. The grin on his face disappeared and his focus returned to dabbing alcohol on a cloth.

“This is gonna hurt,” he warned, his voice was gentle in a way you had never heard from him before. 

“Its fine, believe me, I’ve had worse.” You gritted your teeth in preparation for the pain, grabbing the edges of the metal table as he cleaned the wound. He finished cleaning the wound and inspected it.

“I don’t think you’re gonna need stitches, if you’re lucky it might not even scar.” He pressed a pad of gauze up to your wound and taped it on. You snorted.

“Since when have I been lucky?”

“You held your own against two powerful mutants up there, I’d say that’s pretty lucky.” Alex gave you a pointed look. You shrugged.

“Any of you would have done the same for me. I was just protecting my family.” 

“Nonetheless, you did good. Thank you for having my back.” Hank came up beside you and placed a hand on your shoulder, the gratitude clear in his eyes. Krissy must have finished checking him because she was no where to be seen. “Anything else you need checked?”

You shook your head. “No, I got the wind knocked out of me and I’m gonna have a hell of a bruise on my hip, but I’m good. I got in more hits than I got hit.” You looked passed the two men to a clock hung on the wall, a quarter past 4. Shit. “Well, if you’d excuse me gentlemen, I need to go start dinner with two extra plates.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Any comments are greatly appreciated! I'm kinda torn between who the reader should end up with, comment down below who you think she should get with and it might just happen!


	5. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello I'm back again, sorry for disappearing again, my life got a little crazy. Even if I disappear again, I promise I'm always going to come back to this story, I have to many ideas for it. Thank you for your continued support of this story! It really does mean the world!

Cooking dinner was stressful. You had insisted that Krissy go and rest, and she had fought you against it, which she was right to do but you wanted to be alone. You were silently bubbling with rage and you needed a creative way to take it out that didn’t involve beating someone’s face in.

Perhaps you were a little rough with the chicken breast as you tossed them in a bag to marinate, but who could blame you. After tossing the chicken and potatoes into the oven you grabbed a skillet to sear asparagus. As you were pondering whether or not to make a dessert the professor wheeled into the kitchen. He wore a firm frown on his face, a stark contrast to the easy smile that he usually adorned. His entire body was tense and rigid, and he looked like he’d age 10 years since this morning. 

“Can I ask you something, Y/N?” His voice was taut with something you couldn’t quite name. You took a deep breath to calm the anger inside of you.

“Of course, Charles.” You leaned against the countertop, trying to get yourself to relax. He looked you in the eyes, searching for your reaction.

“How far does your forgiveness go?” Of all the questions you’d expected him to ask, that was certainly not it.

“My forgiveness?” You clarified. He nodded.

“Yes, your forgiveness. If I had wronged you, would you be able to forgive me?” You took a deep breath, biting your lip as you thought of an answer. You let the breath out of your nose as you answered with a question.

“It depends. How have you wronged me? It’s a question of severity, did you put salt in the sugar jar, or did you run over my cat?” Charles winced.

“It’s more like running over a herd of cats I’m afraid.” You walked over to a cabinet and pulled out two glasses. You set them on the counter and walked over to the fridge and grabbed a pitcher of lemonade. You had learned early on that keeping something communal in the fridge was helpful whenever anyone came to visit the kitchen. You poured some in both the glasses and set it back in the fridge. You handed the fuller glass to Charles and he gratefully accepted it.

“Do you wanna talk about it more directly than asking me questions that are meant for someone else? The chicken is in the oven for another 20 minutes and I’ve been told I’m a very good listener.” You returned to your position against the countertop and waited.

“We all used to live here, Raven was my adoptive sister, and after I graduated from Oxford, we met Erik in the midst of hunting down his abusers. He was the only other person we had met like us, and we all became very close. The government was hunting the people who had hurt him, and we became involved in situations and traumatic experiences none of us were trained or prepared for. There was a massacre… We were just kids really. We spent a lot of time together and formed a plan to found the school. We eventually defeated Erik’s past, but it brought to light his true opinions and how far he would go for his beliefs. In the process of that, he made choices that lead to my paralysis, and Raven leaving with him. I understand why they are angry at the world it has wronged them so badly like so many of our people, but they take actions that give legitimacy to human’s fear and hatred towards us. I don’t know if I can forgive them.”

You took a breath, then another. “Is it really about your differences or is it about how they’ve hurt you and this family?” Charles looked like he’d been punched in the stomach. He leaned back in his chair, a stunned expression on his face. The pause seemed to drag on for hours as he tried to process his feelings.

“Ms. (Y/N) I’m afraid I’m going to have to get back to you on that.” You nodded.

“Fair enough.” The timer for the chicken and potatoes rang and you grabbed an oven mitt to take them out of the oven. “For what it’s worth, if either of them tries to fuck with you or the family again, just let me know and we’ll have some words.” The threat was clear in your voice, you did not like the newcomers. You idly wondered if this was how Logan had felt when you first came to the mansion. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” You could hear the smile in his voice even though your back was to him.

“Good. Now be a doll and grab those extra place settings on the counter, the rest of the table is already set. Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes.” 

Dinner itself was tense. No one was talking, even Peter had the good sense to keep quiet. Although you couldn’t help but notice the way he was staring at Erik with more nervousness than anyone else. You hoped that he hadn’t hurt the boy, but you were quite sure he had hurt everyone in this room at some point or another. Unfortunately, the pair of intruders had taken a seat right across from you. They’d arrived late, just as you were sitting down, apparently used to a later dinner time. You took a miniscule amount of satisfaction from Erik’s slight limp and Raven’s wince as she sat down in her chair. 

Erik seemed to have taken a disliking toward you, if the glare he fixed you with all night was anything to go by. You held his gaze, you would not be intimidated or made to feel uncomfortable in your own home. Especially not by someone with such a punch-able face.

Everyone else but Logan had their eyes down on their food, he had his feet sprawled out underneath the table and a book in his hands. While he was trying to appear nonchalant, you could tell he was on high alert. You guessed he couldn’t be as openly threatening with them as he was with you. 

Hank seemed to be the most uncomfortable, he had barely touch the chicken, one of his favorites, and he couldn’t stop shifting in his seat. The children just seemed more confused than anything, but thankfully very good at reading the room. 

“So,” Erik said before shoving a piece of potato in his mouth, “I see that we need to introduce ourselves to the newcome—”

“We know who you are.” Rogue cut him off. Your eyes snapped over to her, as did everyone else’s. Rogue had never been one for confrontation, but she wasn’t backing down. The entire room waited with bated breath. You gripped your porcelain plate if you had to throw it at his head you would be ready. Erik regarded her for a moment, his fork still in his hands, dangling over his plate. 

“Well… Then who are we?” Tension rose, you made eye contact with Charles to see what he wanted you to do. 

He shook his head no and took a calming breath. “Erik—”

“Betrayers.” Alex stood from his chair, throwing his napkin onto it, “That’s who you are and that’s all you’ll ever be.” He stormed out of the dining room. No one really knew what to do, but someone had to do something. It didn’t help that Erik had a smug look on his face. You stood and started gathering plates. 

“Okay kids, I think it’s best if you leave the room, Scott would you go check on your brother? Go have fun, watch a movie or something. The adults are going to have an adult conversation.” They didn’t need to be told twice, Scott, Jean, Peter, Krissy, and Rogue all scurried out of their seats and out of the room faster than you thought possible. You remained staring at the supposed adults until they were gone. Raven squinted her eyes at you, a frown on her face. 

“And just who do you think you are calling the shots?” She sneered.

“The only adult in the room apparently,” You continued to gather up empty plates and silverware, “now, this really has nothing to do with me so I apologize if I’ve over stepped my bounds, but it’s clear that there is something you all are not talking about and it’s effecting this family and our ability to help you,” You gestured toward Raven and Erik, “so you are not leaving this room until you’ve talked about it.” You backed yourself up to the kitchen door and looked to Logan. He seemed to understand what you were thinking and stood up, standing in front of you while you made your escape. 

“Good thinking,” he mumbled to you as you swiftly exited to the kitchen to wash the dishes. The door closed behind you and you let out a large sigh. You hoped your brash idea would work. After 15 minutes, you were almost finished loading the dishwasher and not a single word had been spoken. You loaded the last dish into the washer, put in a washing pod and started it when it sounded like Hank started speaking, quickly followed by a shout, and then another shout, and then even more shouting, which soon turned into a screaming match. Well, at least they were expressing their feelings. With a breath of relief, you took off your apron and hung it on the wall and went to see what the kids were doing.

You found them down in the game room, Mario Kart set up on the larger TV in the midst of Peter doing a victory dance as he crossed the finish line in first place. He stopped when he saw you, you could see a sinister idea forming in his head as grinned at you. 

“Hey (Y/N), wanna come play the next cup?” You grinned.

“As long as you’re prepared to sit on your ass al night, cause if I’m in you won’t be doing that victory dance ever again.” You smirked.

“We’ll see about that!” You grabbed the controller he offered you and were met with a chorus of yells of approval.

“Hell yeah!” Rogue shouted.

“Kick his ass Ms. (L/N)!” From Scott. 

You spent the rest of the night playing with the kids, you’d have to remember to set up a game night from now on.


End file.
